World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs

[Roguey]

Hm, last tweet from Hardsuit Labs HR

Apply today to join our Design team @HardsuitLabs and work on @VtM_Bloodlines. We are looking for a Sr. Systems Designer with progression experience.

Fire Brian and then a week later put out a call for a systems designer. Additionally, looking for an experienced systems designer this late in development spells serious trouble. After four years, they should be finished with all that already and focusing on polish.

Is he the guy who is married to a tranny? Or was it someone else?

Annie stopped caring about her appearance, but she's biologically female.

 

[TT1]

Great Place to Work. Fully recommend. 10/10

 

[Dodo1610]

If the did nothing and just released this game, they would at least have made some money but now even the most optimistic uninformed idiot knows that this game's production is a complete shitshow. What the fuck were they thinking when they fired these people?

 

[Cael]

Hm, last tweet from Hardsuit Labs HR

Apply today to join our Design team @HardsuitLabs and work on @VtM_Bloodlines. We are looking for a Sr. Systems Designer with progression experience.

Fire Brian and then a week later put out a call for a systems designer. Additionally, looking for an experienced systems designer this late in development spells serious trouble. After four years, they should be finished with all that already and focusing on polish.

Is he the guy who is married to a tranny? Or was it someone else?

Annie stopped caring about her appearance, but she's biologically female.

Sorry. I was thinking of that Brian Wu character.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

If the did nothing and just released this game, they would at least have made some money but now even the most optimistic uninformed idiot knows that this game's production is a complete shitshow. What the fuck were they thinking when they fired these people?

You people severely underestimate how uninformed that audience for even the supposedly prestigious games are. They'll see "Bloodlines 2" and they'll buy it. They might get scared away by negative reviews or word of mouth. Mitsoda being there or not doesn't affect them. They don't even know who is he.

 

[Fargus]

What a dumpster fire. Nuff said.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Fire Brian and then a week later put out a call for a systems designer. Additionally, looking for an experienced systems designer this late in development spells serious trouble. After four years, they should be finished with all that already and focusing on polish.

Wonder if it means that no work has been done on this front that they need a new system designer half a year before release (on a game that is supposed to be released in another month, initially?) or that they are scrapping whatever the old team has designed to shape the game into what the management want.

 

[Tacgnol]

Fire Brian and then a week later put out a call for a systems designer. Additionally, looking for an experienced systems designer this late in development spells serious trouble. After four years, they should be finished with all that already and focusing on polish.

Wonder if it means that no work has been done on this front that they need a new system designer half a year before release (on a game that is supposed to be released in another month, initially?) or that they are scrapping whatever the old team has designed to shape the game into what the management want.

One possibility is that the narrative side of the game is all done, but the rest of it is a complete fucking mess due to mismanagement. In that case getting rid of Brian from a purely financial perspective would make sense.

Still a pretty dick move.

 

[Kuattro]

Fire Brian and then a week later put out a call for a systems designer. Additionally, looking for an experienced systems designer this late in development spells serious trouble. After four years, they should be finished with all that already and focusing on polish.

Wonder if it means that no work has been done on this front that they need a new system designer half a year before release (on a game that is supposed to be released in another month, initially?) or that they are scrapping whatever the old team has designed to shape the game into what the management want.

One possibility is that the narrative side of the game is all done, but the rest of it is a complete fucking mess due to mismanagement. In that case getting rid of Brian from a purely financial perspective would make sense.

Still a pretty dick move.

Does it make sense though? Normal companies, when they have a team or team member that has finished their work, start them on the new thing (DLC for example? This is a Paradox published game after all).

Especially for someone you promoted and used as a mascot to attract money and publicity, it would make more sense, if he's finished, to start him on new content, so as to have things worked out for the future. You don't just drop your narrative lead because he's finished writing, right?

 

[Tacgnol]

Fire Brian and then a week later put out a call for a systems designer. Additionally, looking for an experienced systems designer this late in development spells serious trouble. After four years, they should be finished with all that already and focusing on polish.

Wonder if it means that no work has been done on this front that they need a new system designer half a year before release (on a game that is supposed to be released in another month, initially?) or that they are scrapping whatever the old team has designed to shape the game into what the management want.

One possibility is that the narrative side of the game is all done, but the rest of it is a complete fucking mess due to mismanagement. In that case getting rid of Brian from a purely financial perspective would make sense.

Still a pretty dick move.

Does it make sense though? Normal companies, when they have a team or team member that has finished their work, start them on the new thing (DLC for example? This is a Paradox published game after all).

Especially for someone you promoted and used as a mascot to attract money and publicity, it would make more sense, if he's finished, to start him on new content, so as to have things worked out for the future. You don't just drop your narrative lead because he's finished writing, right?

I guess it depends on whether they have future hopes for DLC with this title. Considering the massive fuck up that production has been already, they may be having second thoughts.

 

[Dodo1610]

If the did nothing and just released this game, they would at least have made some money but now even the most optimistic uninformed idiot knows that this game's production is a complete shitshow. What the fuck were they thinking when they fired these people?

You people severely underestimate how uninformed that audience for even the supposedly prestigious games are. They'll see "Bloodlines 2" and they'll buy it. They might get scared away by negative reviews or word of mouth. Mitsoda being there or not doesn't affect them. They don't even know who is he.

The mainstream lost interest in Bloodlines 2 the day they showed this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEYGez6JLZ8&t=623s just look at the comment section. Then the game got delayed and for a whole year, we got one trailer + the news that the most the creative leads for the game was fired and the game gets delayed again. Of course, no one knows who Brian Mitsoda is but everyone understands that you don't fire you most important people unless your game is fucked beyond repair.

 

[Horvatii]

Annie stopped caring about her appearance, but she's biologically female.

No one stop caring, they just give up.

Since when are you Staff?

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Annie stopped caring about her appearance, but she's biologically female.

No one stop caring, they just give up.

They stop caring once they land a husband. Many such cases.

 

[Lambach]

They'll see "Bloodlines 2"

And what the fuck does that even mean to people who haven't played or even heard of the first one? This ain't Cowadooty or GTA and it doesn't have the GDP of a small country for a marketing budget. Bloodlines is not some huge brand that normies will lap up based on name recognition alone.

 

[Tacgnol]

They'll see "Bloodlines 2"

And what the fuck does that even mean to people who haven't played or even heard of the first one? This ain't Cowadooty or GTA and it doesn't have the GDP of a small country for a marketing budget. Bloodlines is not some huge brand that normies will lap up based on name recognition alone.

Yep, this game really doesn't have much normie potential.

I doubt even Mr Ubisoft Consultant will change that.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Remember when Cara Ellison was trying to "ban" Hotline Miami 2? https://archive.vn/vVQ7X

This is the stupidest shit I've read for a long, long time.
And I'm reading many Codex threads.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

They'll see "Bloodlines 2"

And what the fuck does that even mean to people who haven't played or even heard of the first one? This ain't Cowadooty or GTA and it doesn't have the GDP of a small country for a marketing budget. Bloodlines is not some huge brand that normies will lap up based on name recognition alone.

In addition to standard normies who google-up everything and people who follow industry news etc. there's a large number of games who play games from time to time and are interested in specific genres/titles but don't really care about behind the doors stuff. That's why Ubisoft even bothered with trying to continue the HoMM franchise despite the fact that it was never as big as either COD or GTA. Most people who bought HoMM V on release probably weren't even aware that none of the original creators is involved.

 

[Tyranicon]

Fire Brian and then a week later put out a call for a systems designer. Additionally, looking for an experienced systems designer this late in development spells serious trouble. After four years, they should be finished with all that already and focusing on polish.

Wonder if it means that no work has been done on this front that they need a new system designer half a year before release (on a game that is supposed to be released in another month, initially?) or that they are scrapping whatever the old team has designed to shape the game into what the management want.

One possibility is that the narrative side of the game is all done, but the rest of it is a complete fucking mess due to mismanagement. In that case getting rid of Brian from a purely financial perspective would make sense.

Still a pretty dick move.

Does it make sense though? Normal companies, when they have a team or team member that has finished their work, start them on the new thing (DLC for example? This is a Paradox published game after all).

Especially for someone you promoted and used as a mascot to attract money and publicity, it would make more sense, if he's finished, to start him on new content, so as to have things worked out for the future. You don't just drop your narrative lead because he's finished writing, right?

Gamedev studios by and large are the most horribly mismanaged, ill-organized companies I have heard of. Apparently management are either former devs who got peter principled into positions where they don't know what they're doing, or are suits who have no idea what games are beyond the Nintendo shit they played when they were younger.

It's fucking garbage through and through. I only respect solodevs in their basement surrounded by their own filth.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

I only respect solodevs in their basement surrounded by their own filth.

Hey I resent that.
looks around room
alright you have a point.

 

[DeepOcean]

The speculation is they are rewriting the story, hence why Mitsoda was booted and the release is delayed even further.

Or maybe they want to capitalize on the preorder refund tax and will just cancel the game altogether once all refunds are done?

I dont think they are rewriting the whole story, at this point, that would take way too much time as the game is already in production for a long time, quests were already scripted and cutscenes made, I think they are reducing the scope of the game and cutting unfinished content like crazy as they ran out of money. So, this game may end up on a worse launch state than Bloodlines with a ton of missing content and being a technical mess. The difference this time is that on contrary to Bloodlines, this time around, I dont think there is anything of worthy on the middle of the mess.

 

[Infinitron]

Spotted by Orma on a "Bloodlines 2 refugees" Discord:

"cake about" == came about, ofc

 

[Tyranicon]

Yep, this game really doesn't have much normie potential.

I doubt even Mr Ubisoft Consultant will change that.

People aren't interested cause the trailers made it look like a boring, janky asset flip despite having a large studio and dedicated artists. If there was quality here, people who never played VTMB would be interested.

But there isn't, so there's none.

Spotted by Orma on a "Bloodlines 2 refugees" Discord:

"cake about" == came about, ofc

Well rumors, but not exactly unbelievable rumors.

I don't see why Hardsuit needed that amount of employees, seems like overkill and mismanagement.

 

[Latro]

Wonder what features they promised, they should have just replicated BL1.

 

[Tacgnol]

Wonder what features they promised, they should have just replicated BL1.

Source 2 engine. They'd just need a plucky German modder to fix the game for the next 15 years post release.

 

[Prime Junta]

I don't see why Hardsuit needed that amount of employees, seems like overkill and mismanagement.

It's a fairly normal-sized team for an AA game. You need a lot of people doing writing, animation, modeling, level design etc.

It's clearly been mismanaged, though, and it appears that Paradox feels that despite their titles Brian and Ka'ai were the problem.